Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1887-03-19
THROUGH A TRESTLE.
& Train Goes Down Into a Rag
ing Torrent.
The Engine and Three Forward
Cars Dashed to Ruin.
0uly the Engineers Bravery Saves Scores
of Lives-General News.
Into a Torrent.

Ct. LOT II, NO, hIFfu D--AL Victoria.
THIRTY nine miles south Of here, little after
10 O'Clock last night, the trestle which crosses
Joachino creek gave way under the Texas
express, consisting Of a baggage, an express
and a mail car, a smoker two Passenger
coaches and four seepers, carrying one hun
and thirty passengers.
\ heavy rain had fallen all day and the
creek was much swollen. At Hemititc the
first station this side Of the trestle the en-
giueer received orders 10 run cautiously. as
the ran had been heavy and the creek vas
out Of its banks. Engineer Kelley says he ran
81 Owly beyond that point and both he and his
fireman. VILLAIN HOcu. watched the track,
very carefully. As he approached the trr>tle
Kelley observed that the track was entirely
straight and level showing nothing wrong,
and hc went on without the slightest fear or
he>ltdi lon bat when his engine reached about
the middle Of the trcste he felt the whole
structure sinking beneath him. In an Instant
he opened the valve operating the air breaks
full width. aui brought the train to 50 quick
stop that the front end Of one Ot the ears was
crushed in bv the sudden shock. This saved
the coaches, but the baggage, mail express
and smoking cars went INTO the raging torrent
below, carrying with them ali the men on
board.
Engineer Kelley and Fireman Hoch went
down with the engine and were submerged in
the flood Kelley, in his struggles to free
himself, found that one OF his feet was held
fast. but at the same instant aud lusJ as he
realized that he must drown, the engine
| turned Over his tOOt was released. and he
came TO the surface. Selling a passing lOg,
| he clung to il desperately and was swept
down the torrent, and lodged against tree
| $50 Yards below, with scarcely strength
| enough TO move. He clasped his legs and
ifnh Of n hnp
| sCiOus aud was not restored until two or three
| hours after he had been taken from the tree,
when ne found himself kindly cared for in a
| mousse in Victoria. His face and head were
| severely cut. two of his toes cut from one Of
! his feet, aud he was verv badly bruised in
| various parts of his body. but will recover.
| Fireman Hoch was carried about 800 Yards
| down stream, lodged in a mass of brush or
| drift aud was rescued soon after the foOd sub
| sided. He vas COOL deal bruised, but not
| seriously hurt.
| The postal ear was swept away some dis
! tance, and as the water rushed through ii from
end 10 end the mail was literally washed out
| and is now scattered over miles Of territory or
| EMBEDDED in the mud Of the creek. IL is re-
| garied as an almost total loss. the whole of II
being completely soaked and the addresses OF
| letters being oblitarated. The postal clerks,
| Mccullough, Shaffer and Ryan, we're badly
bruised and almost drowned and, being strip
| ed for work. lost all their Clothes, their gold
| watches and about $50 in money, which was
| carried away bv the flood.
| The smoker which is said % have contained
| some twenty persons was swept down about
| three hundred feet below the trestle, and al
of its occupants are believed TO have been
saved. They succeeded in getting outside OF
| the care and clung 10 its top until they were
| rescued. There IS some doubt about the bag
| gageman and express messenger being saved
but late dispatch from the wreck says that
| none of the train men we're lost.
A special train was sent from here between
IL and l o'clock, conveying physicians and
| medical supplies. The train returned this
| evening and brought a number Of passenger:
and train men who did not care To wait at the
wreck until the trestle could be repaired.
As soon as the water had subsidized suff
ciently a large gang OF men was put to work
aud new crossing was finished this evening
and trains are now running regularly.
A full list of the casualties cannot be OBJ
tanned To night, but aside from Henry Byron
of jamestown. y. Y, who was found drowned
in the smoker, and Byrns a brakeman, who
had foot dislOcated, no one other than thOs,
mentioned above were in any way seriously
injured. Nearly one-half of those in th,
smoking car lost most OF their clothing il be
ing torn from their persons either in getting
out of the ar or by the rushing water, through
which they were dragged ashore by ropes.
| farmer named Andrew Whitehead o
1
| sengers. he having swum several times to tn
smoker and each time returning with one o
| the unfOrtunates who were clinging TO tn
| roof of the car. Several passengers in tn
| sleepers also aided materially in the work. anC
Conductor GuyOn of the train and all tn
crew labored like Trojans in rescuing those Oh
| the car.
The mail is said to have been the larges
| ever sent over the road and the loss will fal
heavily on this CITY. where about three-quar
ters of the material originated. The register
ed matter was also very heavy and valuable
consisting largely Of remittsnces from firm
here to their correspondents in Texas.
An express package without any address q
anything on it by which it can be identified
containing $500, was found to day, and 1t
not unlikely that others will be discovered i
the bed of the creek or in the woods.
The cause of the unprecedented fool rs be
lieved to have been cloud burst which too
place late in the evening and filed the creek
which runs between the rugged hill 70
miles so full that it became raging tOrrer
with a current of over twenty miles per hoU
and swept everything before it.